Concrete Angel
by PONIESOMGWHERE
Summary: Songfic set to the lyrics of "Concrete Angel". Chihiro's dad dies, and her life gets shot to hell. Rated T for mentions of violence and beatings and character death. Has a happy ending.


Scythe: This has to be the saddest thing you've ever written.

Me: *sniff sniff* I know…

Scythe: But you still have to say it.

Me: I know. I do not own anything associated with Spirited Away.

Scythe: *Hands the audience a box of tissues* Feel free to cry.

_**Concrete Angel**_

Everything started the day dad died.

I remember the day like it was yesterday. I had just turned 14. I came in the door from school, only to find mom at the kitchen table, the phone in front of her. She was crying into her hands, and I immediately felt my blood chill. Mom _never_ cried.

"Mom?" I asked, sitting down next to her. "What's wrong?"

What she did next shocked me and would shape the rest of my short life.

Mom spun to me and began screaming. "What the hell do you _think _is wrong, you stupid girl?! Your father is _DEAD_!! _**DEAD**_!!!! He's never coming back!! Drove off the edge of a bridge right into a river!!!"

My mouth was hanging open from shock. "What do you mean?! I just saw him this morning!"

Mom… she… she proceeded to slap me across the face as hard as she could. "Don't you talk back to me, you impudent brat!!! What would you know?! You know nothing!!! GO TO YOUR ROOM!!!"

With shaking legs and tears in my eyes, I stood and fled to my room, where I proceeded to fall on my bed and cry my soul out.

It was then that my life fell apart.

She walks to school with the lunch she packed

Nobody knows what she's holding back

Wearing the same dress she wore yesterday

She hides the bruises with the linens and lace, woah

After the funeral… mom started drinking and smoking a lot… Most days I would come home from school to find her plastered and an empty pack of cigarettes on the floor. And the moment I got through the door… she would begin to beat me… and the beatings were brutal.

I began avoiding my mom altogether, preferring to do things by myself. I did dishes, made my own meals, prepared for school…

School. Oh Kami, school. As if the beatings weren't bad enough… I also had to deal with _that_. Everyday I had to wear long sleeves and pants to hide the bruises my mom gave me. And I was teased horribly for it.

The teacher wonders, but she doesn't ask

It's hard to see the pain behind the mask

Bearing the burden of a secret storm

Sometimes she wishes she was never born

It's true, the teachers were curious about my strange attire… but they never questioned it, thinking I was just going through a phase or something… If only they had known…

Throughout all of school, I kept up a happy face. I pretended that everything was dandy… when in reality, it was a living hell… Sometimes… I wondered if it would have been better for everyone if I had never come into the world… At least I wouldn't have to deal with _this_…

Through the wind and the rain, she stands hard as a stone

In a world that she can't rise above

But her dreams give her wings, and she flies to a place

Where she's loved…

Concrete angel…

But even through all the hard times… I still had my hopes… that he would come to me… and hopefully save me… maybe take me away from this place. In my dreams, I would fly to him and he would hold me in his arms…

But he never came. Or if he did, he came too late.

Somebody cries in the middle of the night

The neighbors hear, but they turn out the light

A fragile soul caught in the hands of fate

When morning comes it'll be too late

Fast forward to a week ago. I had had a particularly hard day at school that day, and I was up in my room crying at 1:00 in the morning. It became a habit. I thought my mom was asleep…

But she wasn't.

The moment I heard her footsteps coming from across the hallway, I was filled with a sense of dread. She had heard me. She suddenly came tearing into the room, furious. But unlike the other times, she didn't say a word. This time… she proceeded to beat me worse than ever before. She hit me harder and harder and harder… Then, she slammed my head against the sharp edge of my desk and—

The pain was gone, but everything was black. I felt like I was floating away. My vision slowly came back, and I was able to witness my mom throttling my now lifeless body more from just a few feet away.

Suddenly, everything was a blur. Someone must have heard me or my mom, because I heard sirens, and suddenly the house was surrounded by cop cars and ambulances. I watched paramedics come into my room, rush right by me, and try to revive my motionless body. I guess I could have returned if I wanted to… but it was so peaceful here… The pain was finally gone… I could finally be at peace…

There was just one thing left to do…

Through the wind and the rain, she stands hard as a stone

In a world that she can't rise above

But her dreams give her wings, and she flies to a place

Where she's loved…

Concrete angel…

The whole time while I was watching the pandemonium at my house, I could hear someone calling my name, beckoning me. So I followed the voice to outside my house, down the hill that led to a familiar road. I followed the road, but unlike before when I had come out the first time, the entrance was just as it was the first time I had entered. So I slowly approached the entrance, not knowing what to expect.

As I stepped out into moonlit, grassy fields… I felt… odd… like my body was changing within itself. As I walked further into the fields, I felt an itching sensation on my back. When I crossed the rocks that formed the river, the sensation was suddenly relieved as a pair of beautiful, white wings seemed to explode from my back. As I stood in awe at this new development… the voices began to whisper again, seemingly carried on the wind itself.

"Welcome home, doji."

A statue stands in a shaded place

An angel girl with an upturned face

A name is written on a polished rock

A broken heart that the world forgot

Today is my funeral. I am standing off to one side while teachers and family members cluster around my grave to say their last goodbyes. I hear murmurs like 'she was only 15' and 'If only we had known…'

I sigh and shake my head, then turn around to leave… only to come face to face with a familiar figure. I smile and allow myself to be wrapped in his embrace.

"Are you ready to go?" He asks me gently, looking down at me with those same beautiful jade green eyes.

I look up at him and nod, a brilliant smile on my face. "Yeah… I'm ready. I've been ready."

He nods and transforms once more into a beautiful, majestic dragon. I climb onto his back and hold on tight as he takes off into the sky, unseen by all.

It is a clear day with not a single cloud in the sky. And I am with the man I love.

Forever.

Through the wind and the rain, she stands hard as a stone

In a world that she can't rise above

But her dreams give her wings, and she flies to a place

Where she's loved…

Concrete angel…


End file.
